This weekend I was sitting watching TV and scrolling through some social media (clearly breaking my own ‘No two screens’ house rule) when the post below popped up on my Facebook memories.
As you can see, the post was back in 2013, which is already seven years ago. I was in essence, taking the mickey out of my wife for being mean and for re-using plastic straws. So, by now you know exactly where this blog is going right?
Forward to today, November 23rd, 2020 and how right my wife was! She will claim she was ahead of her time, and although I will (of course) attempt to deny this, she is dead right. Over these seven years, the world (and I) have become more and more aware of the impact that we make on our planet and how we need to adapt our way of life to halt and reverse the changes that we are seeing.
Looking around today, our kitchen is a very different place to 2013. We used to use disposable containers, lots of cling film, sandwich bags – and of course, straws.
Nowadays we are very careful about what we use; our daughter’s packed lunch is still packed in a sandwich bag, but that bag is washed each day and reused again and again. In the drawer next to the sink (you know THAT drawer that everyone has) sits a pack of straws that remain unused, they have probably since before my 2013 Facebook post.
There is a downside to no longer using disposable containers and that is the amount of Tupperware in my house! Seriously, it is taking over the whole kitchen, it’s everywhere - but can I find the right bloomin’ lid? I jest of course, this is a small price to pay for responsible living – and thinking about it, most of the Tupperware (other brands of annoying, lidless containers are available) has been in our possession for over a decade now.
So coming back to the humble straw; plastic straws have had a lot of adverse publicity over the last few years, and although they do contribute to the increasing plastic problem, they do not stand alone as the culprit and are just one of many, many products that we can, and should think about replacing with a sustainable, more planet-friendly alternative.
Our specific industry quickly replaced promotional plastic bags with cotton bags and jute bags; we have replaced plastic straws with metal straws and wooden straws which are all reusable and washable. We stopped selling water in single use plastic a few years back, and these have been replaced with reusable, long-lasting bottles.
We're working really hard to look for new products to replace those that have negative impacts on our environment, and we will continue to do so as the world and the people who live in it change.
And now, I had better leave this blog and go and tell my wife that she was right all along – oh joy!
Russ Platt November 2020
